Government lawers failed before the Court of Appeals (CA) to prevent Nobel Laureate Maria A. Ressa, chief executive officer of Rappler, to travel to the United States and stay there until Dec. 2, 2021.
In a resolution written by Associate Justice Geraldine Fiel Macaraig, the CA denied the motion of the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to stop Ressa from leaving the country.
The CA’s denial of the OSG’s motion was an affirmance of the appellate court’s earlier ruling which granted Ressa’s travel to the US to participate as a joint Hauser Leader and Visiting Shorenstein Center’s Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School in Boston and to visit her parents in Florida.
The CA said that Ressa was able to prove that her travel was necessary and urgent and that she is not a flight risk. It also said Ressa’s visit to her parents is justified for humanitarian reasons.
“In sum, the Office of the Solicitor General failed to present compelling reasons to warrant a reconsideration of the Oct. 18, 2021 Resolution, thus, the granting of Ressa’s fifth urgent motion to travel abroad stands,” the CA said.
However, the CA said: “The resolution is limited to Ressa’s appeal before this Court docketed as CA GR CR No. 44991. The granting or denial of any similar motions before the other courts where she faces criminal prosecution is outside this Court’s discretion.”
Among other things cited in its denied motion, the OSG alleged that Ressa is a flight risk considering her dual citizenship, her prior conviction, and statements undermining the capability of the justice system to dispense impartial justice.
In junking the OSG’s allegations, the CA said that Ressa was able to prove the necessity and urgency of her intended travel through the invitation letter she submitted showing that her actual attendance is needed since it will be conducted physically.
“We cannot sustain the Office of the Solicitor General’s opposition grounded on Ressa’s dual citizenship and alleged lack of respect for the Philippine judicial system because the same is speculative as of now,” the CA stressed.